our economy thanks you, Norway

In the Fell's Point neighborhood of Baltimore, you can usually see a myriad of cultures represented. A large latino community is about 4 blocks north of the water, and the pubs that line the harbor waterfront represent Irish, German, and Italian backgrounds.

Then last week the Norweigans came to town. In their huge effing boat.

This is not the first time foreign boats have invaded the harbor waters to use the fire hydrant. A few months ago I was just walking along, eating my soft pretzel, when I turned around and was face to face with a 12 year old brandishing a large automatic weapon aboard a ship from the British Royal Navy. (Ok I'm sure he wasn't actually 12, but his baby face was way too young to have that size of firearm strapped to his side).

And I can understand that when you've been at sea for god knows how long, you'll need to go grocery shopping. Fresh foods, basic supplies, and maybe a few splurges, all reasonable. So imagine my surprise when the 14 year old-looking Norweigans (I guess Scandanavians wait a couple years before enslaving children in their armed forces) started unloaded their 15-passenger van with NOTHING BUT AMERICAN BEER. Case after case of Coors Light, Budweiser, and Bud Light. The van was full floor to ceiling. Well done, my friends. Well done.

On a side note, I also gave myself a pat on the back for correctly identifying the ship's flag of origin. Thanks Winter Olympic standings graphics.

speechless

In less than 24 hours my DonorsChoose project went from being a distant reality to FULLY FUNDED.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

And for those of you who are saying to yourselves "darn I wanted to help but now it's too late!" you can still go to DonorsChoose and search/support one of the thousands of other high-needs classrooms waiting for resources. If your family/friends support a charity for the holidays, consider adding this one to the list. As a teacher who often finds herself constantly slammed up against a brick wall, this site is a breath of fresh air to those of us on the front lines.

Bless you all.

"I saw OUR author on tv this weekend"

These are the words Kayla excitedly greeted me with this morning. We started our memoir unit last week, and she saw our anchor text's author being interviewed. She asked when our books were coming, because she wanted to get a head start on the reading so she could "really think about some intelligent things to say." Kayla has never finished a chapter book cover to cover.

I don't think I've ever been as nervous as the night I shook hands with Wes Moore. Not only had he written a powerful memoir about expectations and life choices, he spoke eloquently, gave a 5-minute shout out to his mother (named Joy, ironically), and is not hard on the eyes. He had just finished a sort of town-hall style discussion about educational policy in the U.S., and I was 4th in line to get my book signed and meet him. This wasn't my first rodeo in terms of book signings, so I was expecting the standard what's your name, thanks for coming, amusing catch phrase, and send you on your way. 10 minutes later I was still holding back tears and talking about the neighborhood where he grew up, the same neighborhood that is zoned for my students today.

I need your help to create this "ah hah" moment for my students. We're already halfway to funding a class set of The Other Wes Moore, his true account of his Baltimore childhood and the childhood of another Wes Moore, currently serving a life-sentence for murder. This story is all too familiar for the Wes Moores sitting in my classroom today. You can help by visiting my DonorsChoose project and getting us the rest of the way to our goal of 30 books. Huge shout outs to the Zerkels, grandma busby, and Jim McPherson for their more than generous contributions already! Every little bit helps, especially because the page gets more publicity on the DonorsChoose homepage based on the number of donors to a project. An easy way to think about it is each book costs $17.

Kayla's ready to read. Let's make it happen!

www.donorschoose.org/msbacon

**troubleshooting note: some people have been having trouble getting the donation cart to work. Most likely this is caused because you have to create a donors page through the site. It takes like 2 seconds and you can still give to project anonymously.**